IBM RS/6000 SP, Problem Determination Manual

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This soft copy for use by IBM employees only.
Chapter 9. User and Services Management
This redbook is not intended to cover system management issues. The problem
determination procedures described in this book are related to basic PSSP
components, and are mainly operational tasks performed by the system
administrator.
User and Services Management tasks are covered in other publications.
This chapter gives basic hints as to how to deal with certain problems related to
SP system management.
9.1 Overview
The PSSP 2.1 software provides a single point of control for administrative tasks.
9.1.1 User Accounts
SP User Management allows you to add, delete, change, and list user account
information from a single point of control. Users can have the same account,
home directory, and environment across all the nodes in the system.
9.1.2 File Collections
Groups of files can be defined as a file collection and changes to any files in that
collection can be propagated to all nodes. The user.admin file collection is
provided for propagating user administration files to the nodes on the system.
9.1.3 Auto Mount Daemon (Amd)
Amd allows filesystems to be mounted on demand when they are first
referenced and then be umounted after a specific period of inactivity. SP User
Management uses Amd to automount a user
′
s home directory when the user
performs a login on a node.
9.1.4 Print Services
SP User Management provides the ability to shift printing functions from the
nodes to a print server, eliminating the need to maintain and support print
queues on a large number of nodes.
9.1.5 Network Time Protocol (NTP)
The RS/6000 SP system uses NTP to synchronize the time-of-day clocks on the
Control Workstation and the nodes.
In the following sections of this chapter, the assumption is made that the user
has chosen to implement SP User Management together with file collections and
the auto mount daemon.
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Copyright IBM Corp. 1996
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